Device and method for screening a plant population for wind damage resistance traits

Abstract

A device and method for applying a wind force to a plurality of plants in an agricultural environment is provided to screen for selected wind-resistance traits in the plurality of plants. In one embodiment of the present invention, a device is provided including a generating device for creating a moving fluid stream to provide the wind force, a directing device, such as a duct and / or movable vane, for precisely and selectively directing the wind force towards a portion of at least one plant, and a controller for adjusting one or more parameters of the fluid stream. The device and / or method embodiments of the present invention may thus be used to selectively apply the wind force to one or more plants (or portions thereof) such that the plants may be evaluated with respect to one or more wind-resistant physical characteristics.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 739,626, filed Nov. 23, 2005, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to a device and method for screening crop plants for stalk strength, root lodging, and / or other wind damage resistance traits by selectively applying wind forces to stands of plants in an agricultural environment. More particularly the device and method of the present invention allows for the selective application of measured forced air streams to a plant in order to identify, from a plant population being cultivated in an agricultural environment, plants that may be more tolerant or unacceptably susceptible to damage from selected wind conditions. Embodiments of the present invention may also allow for the precise application of simulated wind conditions on a group, row, and / or other plant grouping so as to scr...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]Thus the various embodiments of the device and method of the present invention provide many advantages that may include, but are not limited to: providing a device for generating a precisely controllable fluid stream that provides a simulated wind force that may be applied efficiently to a variety of different plants and plant groupings in a working agricultural research environment, providing a generating device, directing device, and controller for replicating wind conditions that are known to produce certain types of plant failure in commercial agricultural environments in order to be better capable of selecting individual plants exhibiting resistance to such failure modes, and providing the capability of tracking, logging, and / or mapping the application of complex wind forces within an agricultural environment (such as a research plot including stands of various plant hybrids and / or varieties). Some embodiments of the system and method of the present invention provide the added advantage of providing a specialized vehicle for quickly and efficiently applying precisely controllable simulated wind forces to a variety of crop plants in difficult agricultural environments, including, for example, wet, muddy fields, and tall mature stands of corn plants.

Problems solved by technology

Some crop plants, such as corn, are often grown on flat, open agricultural plots that are especially susceptible to potentially damaging winds.

There are a number of different failure mechanisms by which plants may be injured or perish when subjected to damaging winds.

For example, it is known that in some regions of the world, such as in the western plains of the United States, corn plants are subjected to violent thunderstorms with wind gusts that sometimes result in the sudden breakage of the stalks at the nodes of corn plants (brittle snap).

Furthermore, more geographically-widespread failure mechanisms for crop plants, such as corn, include: a lack of adequate root strength (root lodging); a lack of adequate abiotic stalk strength (stalk lodging); and / or a lack of disease resistance in order to withstand strong wind events.

Other crops including soybeans, forages, sorghum and small grains are also susceptible to wind events which limit harvestable yields for farmers.

While much research has been performed to study and document the natural occurrence of stalk failure, root lodging failures, and brittle snap in a variety of different crop plants, there has been little emphasis on the development of devices and methods for precisely applying simulated wind forces to crop plants in an agricultural environment to more accurately screen for wind-resistance traits in such crop plants.

Such wind machines, however, are often positioned to circulate warm air lying above the height of the crop plants and above the thermal inversions that tend to cause frost conditions and are unsuitable for generating moving air streams to exert simulated wind forces on plants.

While the engine and propeller assembly may be used to roughly ascertain the strength of the plants' root system in the face of constant gale force (70 miles per hour, for example) wind (by measuring how far down the row that individual plants were uprooted and / or blown over), the engine and propeller assembly does not enable an operator to effectively replicate highly variable wind forces that occur in storms and may lead to brittle snap, lodging, and other crop plant standability failure mechanisms.

Thus, while some data exists to suggest what types of subtle changes in wind forces may induce brittle snap, stem, stalk, and / or root failure, no device or method is known for accurately reproducing wind forces for selecting plants in the field that may be resistant to such forces.

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